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We’ve
seen
A
Christmas Carol
told in a variety of
ways, in a variety
of lengths, with a
variety of different
themes and brands
tied to it. That’s
why it’s refreshing
to see a classic
spin on the story
with
Disney’s A Christmas
Carol.
You wouldn’t think
that the story would
be so attached to
the book with
motion-capture work
being done by Robert
Zemeckis and his
team and Disney
putting it out
there, but that’s
exactly what
happened.
Everyone knows the
story by now.
Ebenezer Scrooge is
an awful man. Years
of business and not
much else have
hardened him so much
that he’s a shell of
what he could be…
he’s an unloving and
uncaring troll. That
is until he’s
visited by the ghost
of his former
business partner
Jacob Marley who
informs him that
he’ll be visited by
three ghosts on
Christmas Eve to
show him the error
of his ways; The
Ghost of Christmas
Past, The Ghost of
Christmas Present,
and The Ghost of
Christmas Yet to
Come. From there we
know what happens,
we see Scrooge
seeing the error of
his ways and
becoming a loving
individual again…
right around
Christmas time. It’s
a fantastic story by
one of history’s
greatest writers.
Zemeckis' recreation
of this story isn’t
a stretch away from
the material… that’s
what’s surprising
about it. He didn’t
cheapen the story
with a bunch of
nonsense, he really
let the story do
most of the work.
That’s not
altogether
surprising, but it’s
great to see drama
and emotion instead
of just family
silliness in a film
that most probably
didn’t expect to see
much more than that.
Zemeckis and his
mo-cap animation
team can probably
get most of the
credit for this, but
an outstanding cast
with Jim Carrey,
Gary Oldman, Colin
Firth, and others
are certainly
contributors.
The
cast is fantastic
with Jim Carrey
playing Scrooge and
a variety of
characters and
Oldman taking the
role as Bob
Cratchit. Those two
in particular stand
out. With the aid of
some fantastic
mo-cap work both
actors are the
characters that
they’re portraying.
Scrooge has no
humanity at the
beginning of the
film and by the end
of the movie you can
see the warmth in
his spirit. That can
be said for Bob
Cratchit too. When
Scrooge visits the
future to see a
grieving Bob
Cratchit- you can
see and hear sorrow
that might be
impossible to
capture with a set
of traditional
actors. Not only
because Zemeckis can
animate everything
in a room to the
tiniest detail with
his system, but
because Gary Oldman
has an incredible
amount of
vulnerability in his
voice at that
moment. The work
between the actors
and the mo-cap
animators might be
lost on some, but it
shouldn’t be lost by
all. All around, the
animation for
A
Christmas Carol
is fantastic, with
great attention to
detail and lighting,
if a movie were
judged exclusively
on that, this would
be the perfect
movie.
There
are some problems
with this one here
and there. The pace
of the movie is
terrible… The Ghost
of Christmas Present
laughs for three
minutes more than he
needs to. That
doesn’t seem like a
lot, but it’s a
horrendously long
scene and it didn’t
need to be as long
as it was. The same
can be said of Jacob
Marley’s visit to
Scrooge… we don’t
need to hear chains
for two minutes
before they show up…
we already know
what’s coming, you
don’t have to do a
lot of set-up with a
story that everyone
knows like the back
of their hand. The
other problem with
this movie is the
problem that a lot
of movies will
suffer from for the
next few years. It’s
the 3D effect. With
3D sales driving so
much of the theatre
crowd and soon to be
home video crowd,
studios are
implementing 3D
effects for the sake
of implementing
them. In some cases
it cheapens the
story and has a
negative effect on
the movie- there are
a couple of cases of
that with
Disney’s A Christmas
Carol,
though not enough to
ruin the movie. It
is something that
people need to be
aware of.
The Blu-ray video
and audio is perfect
with this release.
The video has a lot
of high end
brilliance to it
with some tremendous
lighting effects
done by Zemeckis and
his team. The
attention to detail
is fabulous. The
audio track is also
spectacular with
great sounds coming
through all
channels. I
mentioned briefly
about Jacob Marley’s
chains rattling for
two minutes before
he showed up… it’s a
little boring to
watch, but that
doesn’t mean that it
doesn’t sound
tremendous.
The extras on this
Blu-ray are decent
but not over the top
superb. There are a
couple of ways to
view the movie- one
being with an
interesting way to
watch it in
different stages of
animation and
another with a
decent commentary
track by Robert
Zemeckis. The other
extras on the set
are the normal-
deleted scenes
(though not
completed) and
making of features
done Disney style
with an actor/young
actor taking you
through the scenes.
Disney’s A Christmas
Carol
was a good take on
the classic tale.
Zemeckis and his
crew did some
stunning visual work
and the action was
great especially by
Carrey and Oldman.
There are some
pointless moments of
the story where 3D
is needed to enjoy
and the movie does
have some problems
with pacing, but for
the most part it’s a
brilliant picture
that you have to
watch on Blu-ray for
Zemeckis’ mo-cap
visuals.
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